The Iowa Red Cross is working with the State Fire Marshal’s office and community firefighters to install free home smoke alarms in several communities during the next several weeks.

They started with volunteers going door-to-door in the central Iowa town of Madrid Saturday, and Red Cross spokeswoman, Kara Kelly, says they have other events planned across the state. She says they work closely with the fire departments in the communities and try to hit areas where there have been a high number of fires, and they also look for the elderly or low-income residents who might not be able to afford their own smoke alarms

“In most cases the smoke alarms are donated either via our national organization or through somebody who has donated money for the purchase of smoke alarms,” Kelly explains. “We’re very lucky in our partnership with the Iowa State Fire Marshal, they apply for a FEMA grant to buy smoke alarms and then they donate them to this project.”

Kelly says there’s an easy way for you to get a free smoke alarm if you need one by contacting your local Red Cross chapter, and they can come out and check your home or many fire departments also make checks. Kelly says they also can use help in getting out and installing the smoke alarms.

“If folks do want to volunteer, we have several projects upcoming that may be near their communities. The easiest way to find the closet project is to go to www.redcross.org/ia and click on the Home Fires campaign,” Kelly says. The next Home Fire Campaign smoke detector installation is set for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area on April 23rd.

Projects are planned in the following communities this spring:
Sioux City, April 30
Ottumwa, May 14
Fort Dodge, May 21
Clinton, May 21
Ogden, June 11
Iowa City, June 18

There have been a lot of home fires in recent days around the state and Kara Kelly, with the American Red Cross in Des Moines, says volunteers from her agency are working to help the victims.

“We’ve been incredibly busy the last four days…with 15 home fires since Friday,” Kelly said.

Those fires have occurred in Lamoni, Centerville, Des Moines, Denison, Libertyville, Hampton, Albert City, Strawberry Point, Dubuque, Charles City, Ogden, and Cedar Rapids.

The Red Cross volunteers are helping more than 60 Iowans affected by the fires. “In most cases, the homes are deemed unlivable so we want to make sure they have a hotel, or a family member, or somebody to stay with. From there, we make sure they have money for clothes and food. We want to move them toward recovery,” Kelly said.

Temperatures are expected to plummet around Iowa in the coming days, so Kelly is urging Iowans to be cautious when heating their homes. “Typically, when the temperature starts to go down and people start to use alternative heating sources like space heaters and fireplaces, we tend to see an uptick in home fires,” Kelly said. “We really want people to be aware of some safety tips so they can make sure they stay safe.”

To reduce the risk of heating related fires, the Red Cross recommends the following tips:

• All heaters need space. Keep children, pets and things that can burn (paper, matches, bedding, furniture, clothing, carpets, and rugs) at least three feet away from heating equipment.
• Never leave a fire in the fireplace unattended, and use a glass or metal fire screen to keep fire and embers in the fireplace.
• Never use a cooking range or oven to heat your home.
• Turn off portable space heaters every time you leave the room or go to sleep.
• Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, and chimneys inspected annually by a professional, and cleaned if necessary.
•  If you must use a space heater, place it on a level, hard and nonflammable surface (such as ceramic tile floor), not on rugs, or carpets or near bedding or drapes. Plug power cords directly into outlets and never into an extension cord.

Four Red Cross disaster volunteers from Iowa are heading for California today to help those affected by a series of huge wildfires. Jacci Etter Skogerboe of Clarion is a health services volunteer and explains what she’ll be doing on the West Coast for the next few weeks.

“I volunteer as an EMT here in Clarion,” Skogerboe says. “So, what we do is we do welfare checks, we help out in the shelters if somebody needs any medical attention. We’ll many have patients with headaches and stomach aches.”

More than 1,100 people in California accessed Red Cross and community shelters on Sunday, places where they can get food and drinks, showers, support and information about the wildfire situation.

This is the fourth time Skogerboe has volunteered on Red Cross missions outside of Iowa. “My first one was in Mississippi when they were expecting flooding years ago,” she says, “and then West Virginia for the power outages and then I had the opportunity to go to New York after Hurricane Sandy.”

Three other Red Cross volunteers from Iowa are headed for California: Cody Peterson from Graettinger is also a health services volunteer, and Don Boehler and Pat Petrie both of Marshalltown, are disaster services technology volunteers who help with phone and computer technology on disaster operations. Iowans who would like to help can call 800-Red-Cross to make a donation, or visit www.redcross.org.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

The statewide chapter of the American Red Cross is hosting its first Iowa Resiliency Summit today in Des Moines. The agency’s regional disaster officer, Dan Cataldi, says they’re gathering people from an array of sources, including state departments, universities, churches and more.

Cataldi says, “The goal is to give ideas and provide information so all of these organizations that work with people can do little things to help people become more resilient, which of course is critical in helping us recover from disaster as well as prepare for disasters.” Strengthening resilience will save lives, he says, plus, it’s cost effective.

Cataldi says, “Resiliency is really the ability to not only be prepared for disasters, so, having a plan, having a kit, those types of things, but it’s also the ability to bounce back from disaster.” The conference will feature a diverse group of participants from all corners of Iowa and speakers from various organizations and backgrounds.

“The goal is to show it’s not just those typical disaster response organizations, but really, the faith-based community, community organizations like Habitat For Humanity, as well as those that typically do disaster response, like the state fire marshal’s office and the Red Cross, can all come together and have a piece in building a resilient community.”

The summit runs from 8:30 to 4:30 at the Fred Maytag II Boy Scout Center in Des Moines.

It’s been a very busy July for the American Red Cross, as the organization responded to 8 home fires last weekend alone. Red Cross regional executive director Tammy Lee says grilling out is just one of the summertime activities that can lead to disaster.

“If you’re too close to the house or thinking the fire is out when it’s not, or starting a fire when it’s windy,” Lee says. “Then there are the things we should be cautious of inside year-round, overloaded circuits, putting things on electric cords.” Lee says the Red Cross typically responds to more storms in the summer, but this July, they’ve helped 101 people already, compared to 70 people a year ago.

She says many of those calls have been housefires, which are usually more of an issue in the colder months, when furnaces and fireplaces are in use. “This time of year this year is just a particular reminder that we can have an uptick in home fires even in the middle of the summer,” she says.

Last weekend’s fires were reported in Appanoose, Wapello, Cass, Floyd, Poweshiek and Polk counties. She says anyone wishing to make a donation or to volunteer with the Red Cross can visit the Red Cross website.

(Reporting by Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)